USDA’s 2015 Agricultural Outlook Forum to Focus on “Smart Agriculture”

The 2015 Agricultural Outlook Forum will include sessions that inform attendees on the benefits of leveraging big data to make better decisions.
The 2015 Agricultural Outlook Forum will include sessions that inform attendees on the benefits of leveraging big data to make better decisions.

According to a recent news release, the USDA’s “2015 Agricultural Outlook Forum,” to be held from Feb. 19-20, 2015, in Arlington, Va., will include a number of plenary speakers and sessions focusing on taking a closer look at global and modern aspects of today’s evolving agriculture industry.

This year’s forum is following the theme, “Smart Agriculture in the 21st Century,” and will be headlined by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and European Commissioner of Agriculture and Rural Development Phil Hogan’s roundtable discussion on agriculture. The event will also feature Dr. Richard N. Haass, President of the Council on Foreign Relations, who will address "Food, Foreign Policy and International Order" and the USDA's Chief Economist Joseph Glauber, will deliver the 2015 Agricultural & Foreign Trade Outlooks.

The plenary panel, “A Discussion on Innovation, Biotechnology, and Big Data,” will be moderated by Tom Vilsack and will include Cory J. Reed, Senior Vice President, Intelligent Solutions Group, John Deere and Company; Dr. Robert T. Fraley, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Monsanto; Mary Kay Thatcher, Senior Director, Congressional Relations, American Farm Bureau Federation; and Dr. Robert Sutor, Vice President, Mobile, Solutions, and Mathematical Sciences, IBM Corporation.

In addition to the list of featured speakers and discussions, 2015’s event will include 25 breakout sessions comprised of more than 100 speakers, with topics ranging from “Big Data’s Impact on U.S. Agriculture,” to “Perspectives on Global and U.S. Trade.”

Registration for the event is valuable on the USDA website. For more than 90 years, the USDA’s Agricultural Outlook Forum has been providing farmers and ranchers, government, and agribusinesses with information that leads to better decision-making, and this year’s event is expected to provide more of the same.